Akira Tadokoro
"I'll show you how it's done!" A hot-blooded teenager from a small city in Japan, Akira's life changed when his father was killed by the leader of the Crusader biker gang many years ago. Growing up in the Chibikko House with his sick sister Kaori, he discovered he possessed special powers, the most notable of them the ability to read minds. Getting into constant fights over the years for what people say (or thought, in some cases) and eventually befriending the biker and taiyaki stand owner Matsu, Akira never would have guessed his abilities would lead him into constant conflict with the Crusaders, or that they would be working for NERV to kidnap people for a terrible purpose. The only person capable of piloting the ancient Babylonian robot Buriki-Daioh, Akira stopped NERV's experiments in the region and life seemed to go back to normal... but knowing war was fast approaching, the idealistic psychic joined the Orb Union to safeguard his friends and family before they ever get into danger and to get back at the EFA for what they've done. Background Information Akira and his sister Kaori were orphaned at a young age. Their father, a captain of the Riot Police, was shot by the former leader of the Crusader gang. Akira found him just after he'd been shot, but it was already too late. They grew up in the Chibikko House, where Akira began developing psychic abilities; most notably, the abilities to read minds and move objects without touching them. Some knew of his talent, but he mostly kept it to himself. One day, while lazing about in the park, Akira was confronted with four members of the Crusaders who had planned to get him to help them finish their "work." The taiyaki stand owner and generally badass biker, Matsu, helped him take them down and Akira found out by reading his mind that he suspected they were involved in the recent kidnappings happening around town. When he got back to the Chibikko House, Akira learned that Kaori was worried about the health of her pet turtle Tarokichi, and, reading her mind and hearing that his spirit would live on, he had the idea to go talk to the antique shop owner, Toei, and see what he could do about it. Toei had an idea to fix up Taro, and they went downstairs to use the transporter he had invented to get back to Chibikko House. Akira apparently stepped on it too early, was flung backwards against the wall after a power surge and caused it to explode, making it necessary to walk back. The Crusaders turned out to have remote controlled robots of various shapes, sizes and deadliness, and Akira's powers grew as he combated them. Back at the Chibikko House, Akira arrived just before Toei, who had decided that the only way to save Taro was to reduce him to a liquefied state (basically making him powerful spiritual goop) and turn him into a fluid android via a process involving a backfiring electrode. He heard something about 'Buriki Daioh' when reading Toei's mind, and the inventor/antique store owner shouted, "EUREKA!" and ran out. Following, Akira found him in the depths of a sub-basement where a giant robot lay dormant. This was Buriki Daioh, a robot only able to be controlled by powerful psychokinesis or by injecting a liquefied human into it's core. Akira says he can do it, and he goes through the steps to board Buriki Daioh via a descending bathroom elevator. Five levers and five psychokinetic attempts later, he is unable to get Buriki Daioh to move, and goes on his way. Akira sells some taiyaki, brings snacks to the napping children at Chibikko House, and then hears a scream from outside just when he thought everything was finally quiet! He goes outside to see Taeko and Kazu being kidnapped by the Crusaders, and beats one down but can't prevent Kazu from being taken. Kenichi/Matsu comes by on his motorcycle and, when told what happened, takes off in pursuit without letting Akira hitch a ride... so he stops a motorcyclist in the street, kicks them off, apologizes and follows them down to the warehouses by the docks, where he follows the cries of Kazu and the occasional glimpses of him being dragged away by the Crusaders till he finds them on a dock, beats them down with Matsu's and Taro's help and rescues Kazu... and then learns that the Crusaders need to bring 2,000 people to the government research facility and to "the commander." Reading Matsu's mind, he learns he's considering going there, but he tells Akira he's going home instead. Akira checks back in at the Chibikko House and finds Kaori in bed, who stammers to him that Matsu went home. Reading her mind, he learns that she is trying to hide his true intentions to go to the research facility from him and, furious, he runs off to do the same. Proceeding to the research facility (which, unbeknownst to Akira, turns out to be a NERV branch) and psychically punching government agents in the face, Akira traverses the twisting hallways, using numerous escalators and kicking multiple Dobermans. He eventually locates a room full of Crusaders, and after giving them a prompt thrashing, Matsu emerges from a door on the other side of the room and declares this the "real deal." Together (and with Taro), they continue to tear up the place, and ends up in a room full of computer consoles and technicians. Sneaking onto one, he finds the text "NUMBER W-1, KOTO WATANABE, TYPE 2014" displayed and, reading the minds of several technicians, learns that several don't know what the secret project is all about, that liquefied humans are like a robot's life-blood and that they are working on some sort of android. The next room contains at least eight banks of four large cylindrical capsules full of something bubbling and orange--undoubtably the liquefied humans he had been hearing about, and, more disturbingly, likely made from the missing people in town. The VIP room door is opened by the code F49F, and inside, they find an officer named Yamazaki, a twisted red-haired scientist named Cindelman who was apparently the head of the liquefied human research, and a strange man named Kumotatsu. Cindelman mentions his research progressed greatly thanks to Toei, and Kumotatsu declares that the Odeo Temple north of town is where science and religion join as one, claiming that "As the 2,000 people merge into one, the great Odeo will descend unto the Inko buddha statue! Only then shall the impurities of the world be purged!" Yamazaki cannot allow them to leave, and Cindelman, excited to have human subjects to experiment on, summons Liquefied Human Robot W-1, presumably Koto Watanabe... which marches in and attacks them. Putting up an impressive but difficult fight, eventually the W-1 uses a self-destructive measure called the Vaporizer Bomb and destroys itself. It's last words ask if it's son is doing well at Chibikko House, and Akira realizes that the W-1 android was fueled by his friend Watanabe's father. Incredibly angry, he gets ready to lash out at Yamazaki, and Matsu has to forcibly remove him from the room and the facility before they need to fight the entire army. Yamazaki, however, is not about to allow them to leave now that they know the facility's greatest secret... With everyone meeting back in Chibikko House, everybody involved discusses how to stop them. Toei says that the giant robot Buriki Daioh may be able to, and that a saint from Babylonia of old is said to have controlled it via psychokinesis. Kazu excitedly asks Akira to control it, but he could not before and does not believe he could now. Toei mentions that they may be able to activate it by injecting a liquefied human like they did with Taro, as Buriki Daioh is powered by the human spirit. Kaori, sick in bed again, volunteers to be turned into a liquefied human. She says she knows that she won't get better again, and says that if she turns into a liquefied human, she can be with her brother Akira forever. Despite her pleas, Akira says there is no reason for her to get involved in all this and doesn't let her do it. Matsu says he will attempt to pilot it, claiming that bikers don't know the meaning of the word "impossible," and Akira chases him and Toei out the door and to the antique shop. Akira gets to the shop only to find Toei trying to figure out how to get it to move, and after reading his mind, learns that Matsu couldn't do it and is likely getting "plastered in some dive." Going to the only seedy bar he knows of in town, he finds Matsu moping and trying to figure out what he could do to raise his spiritual strength, as well as hearing the thoughts of everyone else inside going on about something called Matango. When he goes outside, leaving Matsu to his drinks, he sees the Chibikko house go up in flames, a swarm of bikers fleeing the scene. The Crusaders set fire to the building, and Taeko went inside to save Kaori. Akira tells everyone else to leave and says he'll get them out, and searching the house, finds Taeko in the burning hallway. She runs when told to, and he finds Kaori unconscious on the floor in the bedroom. Akira reads her mind and discovers she's still alive, and she wakes up as the roof begins to collapse. Across town, Matsu asks Toei to try to pilot it again, and he takes enough Matango to kill him, a drug that heightens the senses and spirit, but gets Buriki Daioh to move! The lake in the park parting, Buriki Daioh flies up on some sort of rocket pack and zooms across town, punching a hole in the Chibikko House's wall, holding up the roof so they can get out. Akira, Taro and Kaori board Buriki Daioh, only to find Matsu collapsed in front of the controls. Akira declares him a moron and says he's going to get himself killed, but Matsu refuses to die, saying so long as he's got Buriki Daioh, Matsu ain't dead! The Crusaders show up outside Chibikko House and use some kind of electrical weapons on Buriki Daioh, electrocuting Matsu inside, but using his force of will, he forces it back and the Crusaders get shocked instead. Their weapons explode, sending them flying... but Matsu collapses again. Taeko enters the cockpit, worried about Matsu, and Akira can't get him to talk. He reads his mind, and Matsu tells all, revealing that he and Akira's father used to be enemies. Matsu was the leader of the Crusaders, and Akira's father was captain of the Riot Police. Japan was in a state of confusion over the army's new technology back then, and both of them had their hands full keeping their subordinates from taking to their heels. Akira's father and Matsu met on the docks one night, and his father asked Matsu to give up and just work with the army, not wanting any more deaths. Matsu thought he was being dense and being strung along, but is told that the army won't just fold because of his insignificant resistance, no matter what he thinks, telling him to grow up. Matsu accuses him of being Yamazaki's lapdog, and Akira's father says he didn't want to have to do this and says Matsu has to die. There is a gunshot, and a moment later, Akira's father falls dead, Matsu having pulled the trigger just an instant before him. Matsu knew that no matter how much he tried to make amends, Akira would never forgive him... and he gets up one last time, asking Akira to go to the temple with him to bust the government's plans up. Taeko asks him to go tomorrow, claiming he needs rest, but Matsu just tells her to quit bugging him, saying women always get in the way, and then falling again, apparently dead. Taeko cries, and Kaori tries to comfort her... and Akira yells for everyone to get out of the robot. As long as they have Buriki Daioh, Matsu can't die, his spirit living on. Akira takes the controls and he is able to move Buriki Daioh himself, taking flight and moving towards the Odeo Temple. Jets and tanks and other military vehicles get in Buriki Daioh's way, but Akira destroys them as if they were nothing, attacks barely scratching Buriki Daioh as it's unstoppable flight towards the temple continues. The only stumbling block in it's path is the Donryu flying fortress, and it still pounds it into nothing, not letting anything stop it. Buriki Daioh finally lands in front of the pool on the temple grounds where Cindelman, Yamazaki and Kumotatsu await. Cindelman speaks like only a NERV scientist can: "'Tis brilliance! Humans melted together with other humans into one being, sharing both mind and body! And hatred... A superb world without fighting... To gain such a world, the impure flesh must be abandoned! ...ah well. You wouldn't understand. The 2000th liquefied human has been sacrificed! The water of this temple's pond now contains 60,000 liters of liquefied humans!" The three of them turn to the monstrous birdlike statue in the water. Kumotatsu speaks up. "Keruruu... You've come. The Great Inko Buddha statue shall bring unto us salvation! Master Odeo arrives!" The birds all around the temple fly into the statue's mouth, and with a rumbling, it comes to life! Buriki Daioh fights the equally massive statue, and though the fight is close, destroys it. The liquefied humans surge up the shore and grab the three villains, dragging them in, and Akira sarcastically comments that he thought they'd be happy that now they would become one with them, just before noticing that they're trying to swallow Buriki Daioh too. Akira seems to get hurt when the liquefied humans attack, and all fades to black... ...and then back in, with Watanabe waking him up from his nap on a park bench, to make him some Taiyaki. The Chibikko House is repaired, and except for the loss of Matsu and Akira's sudden inability to pilot Buriki Daioh, life is back to normal. And so, Akira rides off into the sunset on Matsu's old red motorcycle, eventually coming to the docks and looking out over the water, waiting for the next time he'll have a chance to fight against the vile government and wondering when he'll need to use Buriki Daioh again... Personality Traits Akira is several things if nothing else: lazy, short-tempered and dedicated. His laziness usually represents itself through taking naps on park benches and procrastinating on somewhat unimportant tasks. When he should be running the Taiyaki stand, he instead is asleep in the park under a shady tree. When he should be getting the other kids in the Chibikko House ready for a nap, he instead decides to bring them snacks or take a ride on his motorcycle before getting around to it, but does it... eventually. On the other hand, if it was something important such as rescuing a kid taken from Chibikko House or stopping some evil scientist and his friends from filling a giant buddha statue with liquefied humans and then infusing it with the mind of Satan to destroy the world, he would get on it immediately and continue to work on finishing what was started until he fell over from exhaustion or was similarly disabled. His temper often fuels his drive to succeed, or gets him in worse trouble; he couldn't pilot Buriki Daioh until his friend had died trying to and his sister was almost killed in the blaze set by the government, but he also almost picked a fight with the entire army when he found out that his friend Watanabe's father was fueling the robot he fought in the lab. His temper can definitely be used against him, and without someone to hold him back, it could turn out to be fatal. Life is to be lived. Akira's laziness could be described as taking things slow and experiencing the good and fun parts of life before going to take care of the necessary boring bits. He does seem to enjoy the simpler things like enjoying a peaceful afternoon in the park... but with all the fighting going on all across Japan and the world as a whole, it's very difficult to do that. Akira doesn't like killing, but he does love a good fight against a challenging opponent, and beating up people who deserve to be beaten up. Incidentally, the EFA and governments associated with them deserve to be beaten up for everything they're doing to people and all the chaos they're causing. War is never a good thing though, so if he has to go out there and beat up people and their giant robots to calm things down and protect the kids in Chibikko House, he's more than willing to do it. Unlike a lot of giant robot pilots and people in the world, Akira has already basically achieved his most of dreams: he has a taiyaki stand to make some money off of, a giant robot he can use when he needs to save the day, his own motorcycle and an idyllic park he can sit around in... but not everything is as perfect as it might seem. His sister is very weak and very sick, and he's always trying to take care of her and looking for a way for her to get better; after all, she's the only real family he has left. The Chibikko House isn't going to be able to be their home forever, and a taiyaki stand is decent for keeping himself fed, but it may not be enough in the long run. His real dream is to live one, but how easy is that when everything is collapsing into ruin and chaos around you? And so, he's had to put that one on hold. Taking care of his sister and helping stop the wars raging throughout the world comes first. Talents & Abilities * Akira is the anti-psychodriver. He is incredibly developed in his psychic talents, but along a completely different axis. Whereas most psychodrivers get more powerful in their robots, Akira arguably gets weaker. This may be related to the fact that he is it's power source as well as it's pilot, but nonetheless, he is not particularly talented with mobile suits of any type, though he is an above-average pilot in all respects. He does not know how he got his powers or where they came from, nor how they function beyond a level that is required to utilize them, though he suspects that he can learn how to perform new psychic feats as he becomes exposed to the phenomena. * Akira is telepathic. He needs to be fairly close to the person he's attempting to reading the mind of, within a few feet, and it's nearly always surface thoughts. Newtypes experience a distinct unease and, if they've felt it before, can identify that someone is trying to read their minds. He can also mentally disable his enemies, sapping them of willpower or making them think they can't move something they can. He can also fake a Whispered's "resonance" for communication and for offensive purposes (such as, in one case, causing a pilot to hallucinate), though this is extremely dangerous. * Akira is telekinetic, but only to a certain extent; it's difficult to levitate a book and turn pages, but he can throw himself with TK long distances, albeit not accurately. Think of him as having the psychic equivalent of a bag of sledgehammers; great for powering through obstacles, terrible at precision work. He can, however, use his telekinetic powers to disable an opponent's equipment. It may be that he is more naturally predisposed to combat uses of his telekinesis, but he couldn't say. * Akira can create illusions, usually of himself, and use them to throw people off or direct his powers. Whenever he uses any larger-scale psychic attack, it manifests as images of himself altered by the element and is similarly aimed that way. * Akira can heal or repair with a touch, and even more easily heal himself, without much more than a little time and effort. He can also cure illness and rid someone of effects that would otherwise hinder them. Trivia/Facts * Akira's best friend was a ghost. * Akira's primary "unit" is him without one. His robot is his alternate, as it is difficult to get it anywhere. * Buriki Daioh is about as mobile as Giganscudo. * Akira is a master taiyaki chef. * Akira is the new-age Chuck Norris. * Akira may be a master of First Pulse Style, a Terrestrial-level Martial Art. * Akira was infected by DG cells and ran around punching the crap out of just about anything in his path. He's better now. * Someone thought it would be a good idea to hold Akira's sister, Kaori, hostage. They did not survive the attempt, nor did the DG cells infecting Akira. * Akira has developed an unusual affinity for submersibles following an odd encounter with Teletha Testarossa. * Akira has started making frienemies. It's kind of weird. * Akira is not allowed to have nice things. These nice things include Concentration, Steady Boost, and the Lambda Driver. Relationships Logs |ordermethod = title |notcategory = cutscenes |suppresserrors = yes }} Category: Psychodrivers Category:Katharon